Newswatch
About 200 teachers turned out at a board meeting at Kamalii Elementary School. In more than two hours of testimony, several blamed both low teacher pay and high staff turnover for the split in academic performance indicated by the latest Stanford Achievement Test results.
The results put Hawaii below the national norms in reading and math for most grade levels taking the SAT in 1996.
"Has it occurred to anybody that perhaps the test scores have gone down in this state because we have lost all our experienced, retired teachers, and we can't replace them because of the high turnover?" asked Karolyn Mossman, a Maui High School special education teacher.
Fellow Maui High teacher Barry Wurst said many motivated recent hires have left their teaching jobs because of "false promises and deceptive information about living conditions in Hawaii.
"To make the public schools successful, good teachers must be recruited and retained," he said. "We must have a salary that encourages the best of the profession to come to Hawaii to teach and to stay and make that commitment to stabilize the teaching staff at our public schools."
Teachers called on the board to push Gov. Ben Cayetano to support their proposed two-year 7.2 percent-a-year raise - a major sticking point in contract negotiations.
Sen. Daniel Inouye announced the move yesterday, saying he told U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt "that the (state) Department of Land and Natural Resources would be issuing a temporary right-of-entry permit to OHA very shortly which would allow for the movement of the Pai Ohana from federal to state land."
As a result, Babbitt "will refrain from relocating the Pai Ohana from its present location in Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park until the end of the year," said Alan Murakami, litigation director of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp.
The native Hawaiian family claims to have been working the land and nearby fishponds for 14 generations that span more than two centuries.
Before becoming a Family Court judge in 1992, White worked with the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney for 10 years, including a stint as supervisor of the youth gang division of the office's Organized Crime Unit. Her term as a District Family Court judge would have expired in October 1998.
White said she's making the move to help improve the safety of the community. "I also will acknowledge that the increase in salary was an incentive," she said.
Starting salary as first deputy is $85,500 a year compared to $81,780 for a District Family Court judge.
The victim, an adult male, is in critical condition at Queen's Hospital with numerous stab wounds to his neck and chest, according to police.
The suspect allegedly was attempting to recover some "drug money" from an unknown female in a parking lot at King Street and Iwilei Road around 7:30 p.m. The victim apparently intervened when the suspect began threatening and slapping the woman, police said.
He was stabbed repeatedly. Witnesses chased the suspect, who jumped into the nearby River Street canal. He was having difficulty staying afloat and was arrested after he was pulled from the water.
The girls, from Ewa and Village Park, were confined today at a juvenile detention facility. Both were charged with second-degree robbery and kidnapping.
The two surrendered to Pearl City police at 12:30 p.m. yesterday and admitted to robbing and kidnapping the woman. They both have prior arrests.
The Waipahu Street woman was getting into her car in the parking lot of the Waipahu Daiei just before 1:30 a.m. when the two girls allegedly forced their way into her car and punched her, police said.
One girl took the wheel while the other held the woman by the wrists. They drove several miles up Kunia Road and left the woman in cornfields about a half mile from the road, police said. They also took cash from her purse.
The woman reportedly managed to walk to the main road and flag down a motorist.
- Man riding stolen motorcycle charged
- Hilo burglary ring broken this week